Elpis Enterprises

On a typical night in Minnesota, there are an estimated 600 youth under age 18, and even more young adults who are homeless and on their own. They are among the least visible and most vulnerable homeless people. Most have experienced serious upheaval in their lives; about half have been physically abused.   Elpis Enterprises is one of only a few supportive employment organizations working directly with youth that have been affected by homelessness.  

We offer job training and work experience programs for youth through 2 social enterprises.  Our program is flexible and helps manage the ups and downs of youth that are moving forward and trying to exit the homeless experience.

Elpis Enterprises has been working through the COVID pandemic to help the community cope.  After the initial shutdown, we asked ourselves how we could use our equipment and our space to help weather the pandemic.  In the screen-printing department, we chose to manufacture masks using our embroidery equipment.  Now we are printing custom masks and branding masks for organizations and individuals.   We are printing school t-shirts to help keep youth connected to their school.  We are printing organizational t-shirts to help organizations keep their message out there.  We are printing shirts for business to help keep their customers connected to them during the pandemic. We are hosting webstores to let organization’s customers shop online instead of coming in.

In the wood shop, we are making DIY bird feeder kits for home educators and websites that sell environment education products.  We have been doing virtual workshops for Minneapolis Parks and Rec and for 4H.  We have also been building cedar Adirondack chairs with the Green Chair project.

Our interns have been working hybrid schedules using laptops to work on online credentials at home while coming in to the shop on staggered schedules.

Everyone at Elpis Enterprises has worked hard over the past 8 months to help organizations get what they need to keep working and keep their brand alive.

Help us continue that work by donating today!  Thank you!